24 Hearts

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The Tenth Fragment, Altemia

“Judah! What’s going on?”

After hearing the voices from inside the store, Jeanne went back inside, sending the bell hanging above the door into a frenzy. The emotional couple froze the moment she entered. Under the impression that Judah and the storekeeper were fighting, Jeanne stood by the threshold in confusion.

Thanks to her entrance, the couple stopped fighting and realized an audience was waiting for them. Jeanne approached Judah, testing the atmosphere.

“Was my timing unfortunate?”

“No, you just came in just in time. I was just waiting for them.”

Judah was wondering whether he should console them or not. Then, the lady went into the back of their shop in tears, while the older man stayed with them with an embarrassed sigh.

“I’m sorry. You didn’t have to see that.”

“No, it’s okay. It seems like something heavy is going on with you.”

“Yes, it’s a very long story. Whoo — I would like to confess it to you, that is if you have the time. Would you like to listen to the story?”

This was the quest. And despite knowing the full story, Judah nodded eagerly to his question.

“Well, thank you. There’s nowhere here for us to talk properly, why don’t we go outside? It’s frustrating here.”

Outside the store, there was a bench where they could simply sit back and relax. Judah and Jeanne sat on the bench, while the man sat on the flower bed under a large tree’s shade. They sat there by the corner, far from any people coming and going, and it was a perfect place for the conversation. A cool breeze brushed past the three of them.

“My name is Edsen. I’m a blacksmith and a weapon dealer. The woman inside is my wife.”

“I’m Judah. This girl beside me is Jeanne. She’s an adventurer. A bronze adventurer.”

“I will get a silver plaque soon.” Jeanne corrected him, but Judah didn’t respond. She didn’t know precisely when she would ascend to silver, but she was still a bronze right now.

Edsen laughed, “A copper and a silver plate, huh? For adventurers, your company is pretty small. Usually, four or five people go on adventures together.”

“I couldn’t find a suitable companion. I haven’t found a teammate who can give me the same skill and trust as Jeanne. I think we’re doing quite well, either way. Even though we’re quite a match, I think we’re okay. The money you got for the dagger was the fruit of multiple quests.”

The quest was from the lord and not the adventurer’s guild, but he didn’t tell the blacksmith about it. He didn’t have to. The man was already impressed by their feat.

“That’s pretty good. It’s even more surprising because you don’t seem to be lying about it.”

Judah shrugged, and for a moment, there was a silence between them. It was a natural one, shared between people who had just met each other.

“I don’t know where to begin. Let’s see. I have a daughter and a son.” He laughed awkwardly as he began his speech.

“My daughter resembles my wife, and my son resembles me. Thinking about them makes me happy. Even though the kids had troubles, they were never spoiled. They were usually happy. They were satisfied with our shabby store passed to me by my great grandfathers. I took over, and we didn’t run out of income because many people came through word of mouth. But one day, my daughter fell ill.”

“Your daughter got sick?” Jeanne mumbled, shocked and sympathetic.

Edsen nodded as his shoulder sunk, “Yes. A rare disease. Even if we healed her, her body grew weaker, and she even got all sorts of small illnesses afterwards. We didn’t know at first. We just went to get her medicines or brought her to the priest to get her treated. It was peculiar. No matter how weak you are, you can’t get three or four diseases all at once in a month, right?”

There was nothing wrong with it. Magic Power Deficit was the name of the disease Judah set when making this quest. Just as blood flowed through everyone’s body, people lived with basic magical powers. Magic power was used to strengthen the body to use magic or activate a certain level of swordsmanship. Still, it was usually used to increase the body’s immunity to prevent disease. However, when you suffer from this magical deficiency, the magic power stored in one’s body is like a dam with a hole that will leak and dry out. Naturally, the person’s immunity decreases, and it is easy to get sick, and later, several diseases attack all at once, and the person can die of complications.

“I couldn’t believe the priest of the temple. So, I went to the famous mage and alchemist who visited Aslan and asked for their help. They saw my daughter and said that the magic power in her body was leaking out.”

He sighed heavily.

“What should I do? This is the first time I’ve heard of this case, so I don’t know anything. They said they couldn’t help, but I said that feeding her a gemstone might work. The gemstones that came out of demons’ bodies had magical power. I thought it made sense. So I bought her a gemstone. Fortunately, it worked. My daughter always gasped like she was on the edge of death, but after eating the gemstone, she was able to live like before.”

“Good thing.” Jeanne sighed, yet Edsen laughed at her.

“Thank you? I thought it was fortunate too. She had a way to live even at the cost of a small fortune. But that wasn’t it. It was only for temporary measures. The amount of magic power she needed increased as well as the number of gemstones she needed to consume, which made her suffer greatly. In turn, the couple where we got her gemstones were also strained. Soon, the money I saved ran out.”

“…”

“Then, I went to -Calypso-, the land of Magic, where my son heard about… Che… che, what was it?”

“Cherserian.” Instead of Edsen, Judah finished the sentence, “It’s the name of the magic power plant. It looks like you went there to get her some?”

“!” Edsen’s eyes widened, startled by Judah’s reply.

The boy was only looking down on the ground, shaking his legs. He continued speaking, unbothered by the gazes upon him, “I don’t know where he heard it, but I guess your son was lucky. Your daughter’s disease is ‘Magic Power Deficit.’ It’s a disease in which the balance of the body is disrupted because of the body’s lack of magic power. It needs medicinal herbs, essential for her healing. Calypso is a land full of magic enough to sustain mages since ancient times, so you can find magical herbs there that are rare elsewhere.”

“Oh my God. Her illness had a name? Even the skilled mage didn’t know?”

Not much was known about this disease. It wasn’t famous and was a very rare disease, so only the Balaurs or the tower lords of -Langritsa’s Atop- in Calypso knew of it. Of course, not everyone knew everything about this world, so there may be more people who knew it more than Judah thought.

Judah replied, “I just happened to know. Do you know about Serenia?”

“I do. There are fragments in that area that are yet to be discovered, so adventurers and mercenaries headed there for a chance to find them.”

“That’s right. That’s where I come from. The lord made a library for everyone, and if you go there, there are quite a few books of the old Magic Empire. I know the disease because of their books.”

“Well, then! Do you know any cure?”

Judah looked at Edsen. The older man’s eyes were squeezing him for answers.

“Yes. But I don’t know if I can completely cure it. It’s just what I saw in the book. If the book is real, then I can cure it. No, even if I can’t cure it, she’ll get better somehow.”

Edsen stood up, walked in front of Judah, then collapsed to his feet as he grabbed the boy’s hands. He bowed his head, “Please, help me. I’ll pay as much as you want. If you need to go, I’ll give you more. Please, would you treat my daughter?!”

“Edsen’s request.”

[Edsen, the owner of a shabby weapon shop in Aslan, the capital of Philoria, is eagerly asking you.]

[If you make a medication for his daughter who suffers from Magic Power Deficit, he will see you as a lifelong benefactor.]

[Of course, no reputation will be made out of this, and the rewards may be less than what you struggled with.]

[However, you have given him hope. Since you said you know the cure, how would you like to help him?]

[You don’t know. As you help Edsen…]

Carefully, Judah read the contents of the quest at the hologram window that appeared before his eyes. He blinked, confused to see the message fade off like an error before it disappeared into the background.

“I’ll help you, so get up.”

“?”

It was Jeanne who answered him instead. Judah blinked, then he snapped his head at her. Their eyes met, and her very gaze told him, ‘What? Wouldn’t you like to help anyway?’

Judah huffed, and Edsel bit his lip as his body trembled in absolute gratitude.

“Oh, thank you. Really. Thank you!”

And a new window appeared before his eyes.

[You have accepted the quest.]